> modifiers

Move Along Mesh

modifiers/move-along-mesh·v1.5.1

IN:2 OUT:1

SUMMARY

The Move Along Mesh attaches each instance to a mesh from the second input or the Mesh parameter, at the nearest point or scattered over the surface, and keeps its offset in the surface frame. In Advect mode (Initialize, then Start) instances slide along the mesh's Up direction by Speed and are snapped back onto the surface each frame, aligned to its normal, and a Target Feedback Loop POP lets you build your own loop around it. In Simple mode every input point is snapped onto the mesh at its own position each frame, so points you move yourself stay on the surface.

Pair it with Orient Mesh to shape the walking directions with swirling, curl noise and blur. Enable Life Time to rebirth instances at their attach point, Scale by Age to scale them over their life, and Enable Point Relax to keep them from piling up.

PARAMETERS

PAGEMove Along Mesh

Group	Group	If there are input groups, specifying a group name in this field will cause this POP to act only upon the group specified.
[+]Solver Mode	Solvermode	Simple snaps every input point onto the mesh at its own position each frame, without walking. Advect walks the points along the mesh in a feedback loop, started with Initialize then Start.
Target Feedback Loop POP	Targetpop	A reference to a POP node downstream in the network whose data is retrieved one frame later.
Mesh to Attach To	Mesh	A reference to the mesh of triangles or quads to walk on when the second input is empty. Its Orient or Up attribute sets the walking frame.
Display Mesh	Displaymesh	Enable drawing the mesh in the viewport.
[+]Display Color	Displaycolor	Sets the color of the mesh guide.
Initialize	Initializepulse	Initializes the POP from its input and parameters. The points start at their attach positions.
Start	Startpulse	Start the simulation from the initialized state.
Play	Play	Pause or play the feedback loop.
Step	Steppulse	Advance the simulation by one frame while paused.

PAGEAttach

Lock to Mesh	Locktomesh	Freeze the attachment, which is faster, and the points do not re-attach when the input moves. Reattach to Mesh recomputes it. Advect only: Simple always snaps from the input.
Reattach to Mesh	Reattachtomesh	Recomputes every point's attachment, refrozen when Lock to Mesh is on.
[+]Attach Mode	Attachmode	Determines where a point starts on the mesh in Advect: the nearest point within Search Radius, or a random point on the surface (Seed). Simple uses the input position.
Scatter Seed	Seed	Numerical value that initializes the randomization.
Search Radius	Searchradius	Search radius for the mesh in Nearest Point mode and in Simple mode.
Maintain Offset	Maintainoffset	Sets the fraction of the original offset from the surface that is kept, from 0 to 1.
Maintain Orient Offset	Maintainorientoffset	Sets the share of the incoming rotation that is kept, from 0 for aligned to 1 for the incoming rotation.
Visualize Offset	Visualizeoffset	Draw a line from each point to its position on the surface.
Fetch Offsets Lines	Fetchoffsetslines	Add a Select POP that outputs the offset lines.

PAGEAnimate

Do Falloff	Dofalloff	Weight the effect on each point by the Falloff Attribute.
Falloff Attribute	Falloffattr	The point attribute, 0 to 1, that weights the effect.
Speed	Speed	Walk speed. 1 is 0.25 units per second.
Random Speed	Randomspeed	Sets the random speed added to each point.
Speed Seed	Speedseed	Sets the seed of the random speed.
Enable Life Time	Enablelifetime	Give the points a life. They age while walking and are reborn at their attach point when it ends.
Life	Life	Sets the life span in seconds.
Life Variance	Lifevariance	Life Expectancy variation as fraction of life expectancy, added or removed at random per point.
Life Seed	Lifeseed	Sets the seed of the life variation.
Output Life Attributes	Outputlifeattrs	Keep the Age (seconds lived) and LifeTime attributes on the output.
Scale by Age	Scalebyage	Scale the points by the scale ramp over their life, 1 at birth and 0 at death, remapped by Remap Scale.
[+]Remap Scale	Remapscale	Sets the scale range that the ramp's 0 to 1 range maps to.
Open Scale Ramp Editor	Openscalerampeditor	Open the scale ramp editor.
Reset Scale Ramp	Resetscaleramp	Resets the scale ramp.
Custom Scale TOP	Customscaletop	Reference to a TOP used as the scale ramp, overriding the ramp editor.
Enable Point Relax	Enablepointrelax	Enable pushing neighboring points apart each frame so they do not pile up.
Relax Iterations	Relaxiters	Number of relax passes per frame.
Max Relax Radius	Maxrelaxradius	Sets the distance within which the points push each other apart.
Max Neighbors	Maxneighbors	Maximum number of neighbors pushed per relax pass.
Relax Strength	Relaxstrength	Sets the push-apart speed, in Max Relax Radius per second. 0 turns it off.

PAGECommon

Bypass	Bypass	Pass through the first input to the output unchanged.
Free Extra GPU Memory	Freeextragpumem	Free memory that has accumulated when output memory has grown and shrunk.
Render Primitives	Renderprimitives	Whether to render the full POPX geometry. When off, only point instances are drawn.
Convert to Point Primitives	Converttoptprim	Enable converting points to point primitives when Render Primitives is off.
SRT / RST	Srtrst	Sets the transform order, SRT or RST, used when the points are rendered as TouchDesigner instances.

INPUTS

Input 0 POP - POPX/POP Geometry

Input 1 POP - Mesh to Attach To

OUTPUTS

Output 0 POP - POPX/POP Geometry